I am looking for a new chemo treatment for advanced tongue cancer in the base of the tongue. A friend of mine has had throat cancer with radiation and chemo treatments and can no longer have radiation. Chemo or surgery are the only options. I read an article about a new chemo that was put directly into the vein/artery feeding the tongue so it only affected that specific area. Is there such a treatment or was I just dreaming about it?

I heard about that also. Your best bet is to go to the NCCN site and look up clinical trials.

http://www.nccn.org/cgi-bin/perlfec...amp;q=clinical+trials&submit1=Search

Or try this:

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials

Thank you for your reply and if you have any other ideas please let me know. Thanks again
Raleigh

I don't know if this is pertinent, but four years ago my husband went through a treatment protocol at the Mayo Clinic for his tongue base cancer that involved intra-arterial chemotherapy and concurrent radiation. The protocol is sometimes called RADPLAT, for radiation + platinum.

The chemo was administered through catheters inserted into blood vessels in the groin (like an angiogram) on each side, and snaked up to the tumor site. Then the tumor was given a huge blast of Cisplatin, followed by a neutralizing agent. He had four rounds of the chemo (once a week for four weeks) and six weeks of daily radiation. It was quite an ordeal, but he is still alive four years later!

This is probably old news, in terms of cancer research. Hopefully you can find something newer and better.

Barb

Barb,

I can't resist the urge to offer my congratulations to your husband for four years cancer free! What a milestone.

Ed

Thanks, Ed. My husband's cancer was also Stage IV tongue-base scc (T3N2cM0).

Actually, I have had pretty good experience with cancer survival. My father had an ocular melanoma, and he died of heart failure twenty-five years later - having also beaten prostate cancer in the meantime! About twenty years ago, my mother had thyroid cancer and I had cervical cancer, and we're both still alive.

Don't know if it's good luck or good genes. We come from sturdy peasant stock. But even though this disease is horrible, and sometimes the treatment seems even worse, there is hope.

Good luck with your continued recovery!

Barb

Thats enough cancer for a city block not just one family Barb. Congratulions on your husbands four year survival. It truly is uplifting to those who follow. All my best,

Danny Boy

I am currently in treatment under the RADPLAT protocol under the doctor who pioneered this version of intra-arterial delivery of Chemotherapy. I had few effects that were not manageble and have seen outstanding results so far. For more details, check out my introduction. Although I have seemed to weather this well, I have watched others at the same hospital have it a bit rougher. If anyone has any questions about this procedure, I would be glad to answer what I know either here or via e-mail. I mananged all 4 chemotherapy treatments and have only 7 of the 35 radiation left. Even those are changing to a more narrow scope so hopefully some recovery will already begin from the radiation.

At the hospital I go to, it is the standard of treatment as opposed to being in Trial. I feel confident with the crew that has done this and would suggest the RADPLAT merits investigation if you are facing disfiguring surgery as your primary option.


J. L."Wudman" Wood
Southern Illinois
[email protected]

Wudman's post on the intro board peaked my curiosity and I found the following link to the University of Tennessee by googling on RADPLAT. http://www.utmem.edu/otolaryngology/Otolaryngologists/Research/RadPlat.html
It sounds like the program you heard about.
Hope this helps.

Good Health,

Chuck

My doctor is the former head of the program at the University of Tennessee at Memphis, Dr. K. T. Robbins. He is currently the chair of the Head, Neck and Throat Center at St. John's Pavillion/SIU Medical School which operates in Springfield, IL with treatments managed in conjunction with St. John's Hospital in the same city. Dr. Robbins has put together what seems to be a pretty competent team when it comes to dealing with oral Cancers. I did a lot of research into RADPLAT prior to treatment and it is clear that when it comes to this technique, experiences counts.